Former British soldier convicted of passing on sensitive information to the Iranian government

LONDON (AP) — A former British soldier whose audacious escape from a London prison spurred a dayslong search was convicted on Thursday of passing on sensitive information to the Iranian intelligence service.

Daniel Khalife, 23, was found guilty by a jury in Woolwich Crown Court on violations of Britain's Official Secrets Act by collecting information useful to an enemy — Iran. He was cleared of a charge of planting fake bombs in his military barracks.

Prosecutors said Khalife played a “cynical game” by claiming he wanted to be a spy after he had delivered a large amount of restricted and classified material to Iran, including the names of special forces officers.

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Khalife testified that he had been in touch with people in the Iranian government but that it was all part of a ploy to ultimately work as a double-agent for Britain, a scheme he said he got from watching the TV show “Homeland.”

The former soldier snuck out of a London prison in September 2023 while awaiting trial on the spying charges. Hespent three days on the run and was ultimately nabbed on a canal path.